Google launches Allo, using real-time data to drive app installs and the world’s first video-enabled beacon

In this issue, we look at the arrival of the new messaging app from Google, a case study featuring Google/Waze and the latest and greatest from the folks over at Estimote, the beacon company.

We love user feedback, so if our digest is too long, short, amazing or boring — just let us know at hello@himumsaiddad.com.

Hi Mum! Said Dad

Google launches Allo messaging app

Google launched the much anticipated Allo on Wednesday, having given the world a brief glimpse of the product at Google I/O 2016. The messaging app further demonstrates Google’s ambitions of baking artificial intelligence into the core of its products.

Allo provides users with a personal Google Assistant, which users can chat with one-on-one or bring into a conversation by typing “@google”. The Google Assistant does everything you would expect such as find nearby restaurants, get directions and pull flight itinerary details. The Assistant also analyses conversations and surfaces one-click responses in the context of the conversation (yes, that includes relevant emojis too). However, it is worth mentioning that the Assistant and Allo in general is still a work in progress with Justin Uberti, Principal Engineer and co-lead for Allo, tweeting that Allo is a “1.0 product that will improve every few weeks”.

Estimote launches world’s first video-enabled beacon

The recently launched Estimote Mirror is able to take content from apps and display it on any digital screen near a user. The Mirror reads BLE signals from compatible apps or stickers (another Estimate product which can be placed on everyday objects and is able to react to human interaction such as being picked up) and then a programmable rendering engine decides what to display on screen. The Mirror connects to a TV via HDMI and USB, with the latter ensuring an endless supply of power.

So what are some potential applications?

• An airport departure board that reacts to a traveller’s presence in order to display specific details such as flight time, departure gate and status.• A in-store display which shows relevant product information when a shopper picks up a particular product.• A museum display which plays a video when a user comes near a particular display.

There are clearly some very interesting applications for the Estimote Mirror. We will definitely be trying to uncover some other novel applications for the Mirror here at Hi Mum! Said Dad.

The Estimote Mirror. Image source: Estimote

Case study: Google and Waze use real-time data to drive app installs

Google recently released a very interesting case study, outlining an experiment where real-time data was used to drive app installs. The experiment was conducted in partnership with the community-sourced traffic app, Waze. The results were very encouraging — conversion rates increased by 865% and cost per install fell by 51%.

The experiment revolved around three key pillars:

‘Try before you buy’ drives more conversions

Most install ads use static copy that is surfaced to everyone. These aren’t very compelling. However, when Waze used a dynamic install ad, featuring a live traffic incident feed that was relevant to the user, engagement and conversion was significantly higher.

A dynamic ad is effectively a mini app — it is able to showcase the value of the app to the user in an instant.

2. Be present in the right moments

Google Trends data showed large mobile search spikes for “traffic” during the morning and afternoon rush hours — a clear “I want to know” micro-moment. Armed with this insight, Google and Waze used dayparting as well as interest and geo-targeting in order to reach commuters in key cities with display ads when they were most likely to be searching for traffic news in the Google Display Network. The ads were also adjusted to feature a day/night backdrop, depending on the time of day, in order to emphasise the immediate relevancy of the ad.

3. Local is good but hyper-local is even better

A very interesting result was that hyper-local ads such as “Standstill Traffic on Princes Street” outperformed ads that were more city-wide such as “Live Traffic Reports in Edinburgh”. Whilst it is certainly true that “Standstill Traffic on Princes Street” is irrelevant to a user who is going in the opposite direction, the message actually performs another extremely useful but not so obvious function. It shows a potential user the specific, granular information that Waze is able to offer on particular streets, which a more city-wide ad is not able to do (you could also argue that a potential user will assume that a traffic app that is able to offer such granular information will naturally offer city-wide information anyway).

Generalising this to other apps, the moral of the story here is to communicate the unique value that your app offers to a consumer. For Waze, that was the granular information uploaded by its community of loyal users.

An example of a dynamic Waze ad. Image source: Google

Originally written as part of Hi Mum! Said Dad’s Weekly Digest.

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